Version for piano Quatre mains
Ten pieces (or movements)
I. Okinawa Dance
II. Tokyo Song
III. Hong Kong Dance
IV. Holy Mountain Song
V. River Song
VI. Swan Dance
VII. Rotterdam Song
VIII. Clear Island Dance
IX. Night Train Song
X. Underground Dance
Songs & Dances is commissioned by VAKIR, a Rotterdam Society for Chamber music musicians, for their 30th Anniversary. For this commission I formulated two goals. Firstly, the society has members that play various instruments on various levels, therefore I wanted to make something in which everybody that wants to participate can. Secondly I aim for music that would appeal to both professionals and amateurs.
For Songs & Dances, my point of departure was the novel Ghostwritten of David Mitchell that contains ten stories that take place in different countries around the world, where some characters, or storylines, accidentally cross each other. Another binding factor is that there is a ghost who travels from body to body and observes what happens in the world.